Self Segregation

 

To put it simply, "like attracts like."  People surround themselves with folks who like the same things. This is true in all segments of society.

When this project began in the early 1990's there were about 1,500 people living in shantytowns in downtown Miami, Florida (USA). One particular camp along the Miami River was in a parking lot that stretched for five blocks.

There was one potty john for hundreds of residents but it was never cleaned and too disgusting to get near. There was also one open fire hydrant for water so that people drink and bath. Dog, cats, ducks and chickens also called the parking lot home.

It was pointed out to me in this camp that every block had a different theme.  The block closest to the river was the crack block. I was encouraged to avoid that area because people on crack were paranoid and unpredictable. There were three other blocks of various drug habits but I avoided them completely.

Each camp around the city had a self appointed leader that they all happened to refer to as the mayor. Once I gained the respect of the mayors my ability to hang out with residents got easier.

The camp on the Miami River had one block where all the peace loving people lived. The mayor of the block was named Bobby and he named his block “cracker court.”  He explained to me that they don’t like any trouble around there. Troublemakers were urged to move on.

Cracker Court included illegal aliens, born again Christians with their own wooden church shack, harmless mentally ill folks and alcoholics. To be honest though it was primarily alcoholics. They worked during the days. They drank after dark when I wasn’t around. They didn’t like drugs or violence.  As long as I was around Bobby’s people I felt safe.  I was told which areas and people to avoid and trusted the advice.

 

There was another camp on Watson Island where Parrot Jungle is now. That camp was also peaceful and the demographics were similar to that of Miami River’s Cracker Court. Those two locations were my favorite to photograph.  Since I was alone and I was going into people’s shanties I had to establish a mutual trust factor.

It is really an interesting concept don’t you think? People at every level of our society segregate themselves to create their comfort zones. People who are drug addicts want to be around drug addicts and those that are not want to stay away them. People really do have a way of creating structure from the chaos around them.

Please check out my website for this project at http://www.marylou.us/chaos .  I also have a facebook presence at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Photographer-MaryLou-Uttermohlen/201723200603?ref=hl . This part of the project was made possible by an individual artist fellowhip of $5,000 from the State of Florida.

No Compensation

There always needs to be a balance between what you take and what you give but how can that be applied to this situation? Sure homeless people would love to be paid for participating in this project.  I would love to have been paid too. 

Many times I have been told  by people that they will act anyway I would like for the right price. Then they would show off a sad face thinking that drama would make a good photo about homelessness. That is not what I am going for at all. 

The goal of the project is to capture an honest depiction of a person’s life experience. When money enters the scene the purpose of their participation shifts.  They are no longer visiting with me because they trust me.  All the sudden my visit becomes a job with expectations. Since I never paid anyone, money was never an issue to manipulate people. Participation  in this project has always been voluntary.

This project has been self-financed with the exception of the $5000 individual artist fellowship from the state of Florida in 1998.  Photography is a expensive media.  I  never had the extra cash to pay people so paying participants has never been a  consideration.  I have always been upfront about that.

I explained to people what I am trying to do and asked for permission to hang out with them. If they agreed, I stayed. If they disagreed, I moved on. Eventually some people that didn’t trust me at first would latter welcome me and become a friend. Somehow I earn people's trust and respect and at that point they would become co-creators of this document.